Anthony Crivello and Veronica Cruz will star in the New York Stage & Film production of Diosa by Edwin Sanchez. Melia Bensussen (The Turn of the Screw) will direct the piece, which has a short run at the upstate New York theatre company, Aug. 2-4.
Diosa has already been announced for the 2002-03 season at Hartford Stage in Connecticut. The play was once on Hartford's 2001-02 roster.
Cruz, a veteran of several EnGarde Arts shows in New York City, will play Josepha, a beautiful young girl who rises from her parent's ballroom dancing act to film stardom.
Though the author and theatre have made no mention of it, past descriptions of the storyline resemble the life of movie star Rita Hayworth, who was the child of Spanish-born dancer Eduardo Cansino and "Ziegfeld Follies" girl Volga Hayworth. She began her career dancing in Mexican clubs before being discovered by a Fox executive at the age of 17. Diosa has been described as being very dance intensive.
Crivello is known for two big Broadway musicals: The Kiss of the Spider Woman and Marie Christine. He will play Miguel. Also in the cast are Nancy Ticotin (Damn Yankees), Mark Blum (The Best Man), Darren Pettie and Darren Goldstein. The remaining NYS&F line-up is as follows:
Mainstage Productions:
• Left, written and directed by Richard Nelson, July 24-Aug. 4
Susan Stein Shiva Theater:
Reading Festival #2, July 26-28
• A Perfect Dinner Party by Alexandra Gersten and Theresa Rebeck
• Picasso's Closet by Ariel Dorfman
• Rosemary and I by Leslie Ayvazian
• Wilderness or Mirrors by Charles Evered
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The 18-year-old New York Stage & Film is particularly hot right now. Always a popular training ground for new plays, the troupe's 2001 season produced a high amount of success stories. Three productions—Mr. Goldwyn with Alan King, Donaghy's Boys and Girls and Jessica Goldberg's Good Thing—made it to New York City stages this season. Another show, David Henry Hwang's Largo, will be staged at Trinity Rep in Rhode Island in the coming season.
This year's crop is already off to a good start. Commercial producers are attached to Tuesdays with Morrie. The play is expected to reach New York.
For information, call (845) 437-5599.
—By Robert Simonson
